Phillips — Hail Injury on Forest Trees. 51 



This is the total number of days that hail was reported 

 for each month from April to September inclusive. A 

 few hail storms were reported in March and October, but 

 they were few and scattering. Most of the storms here 

 reported were entirely harmless or did but little damage. 

 These stations are considered the most reliable in the 

 state. 



Excellent opportunity for studying this kind of injury 

 was afforded by a hailstorm which occurred at Hutchin- 

 son, Kansas, on the last day of May, 1908. The storm 

 started about 5 a. m., and lasted for 20 to 30 minutes, do- 

 ing damage both north and south of the city. The hail 

 clouds came from the northwest against the wind which 

 was blowing from the southeast. This probably accounted 

 at least partially for the duration of the storm and ex- 

 plains why the defoliation of forest trees occurred on the 

 south and east sides although the clouds came from the 

 opposite direction. The hail stones ranged from the size 

 of a hazelnut to that of a hickory nut and formed a layer 

 of 1 to 4 inches in depth. The stones on the outskirts of 

 the storm were reported to be of a larger size but were 

 fewer in number, and the injury to all forms of vegetation 

 was less than in the center of the storm. 



Hardy catalpa suffered worse than any other forest 

 tree. Except in rare cases whole stands were entirely 

 defoliated and the bark badly torn on exposed branches. 

 On trees 6 to 10 years old many wounds were measured 

 which were continuous for 12 to 15 inches, and occasion- 

 ally these wounds were an inch or more in breadth. Es- 

 pecially bad effects were noted in one year old coppice 

 stands. Such sprouts are very succulent, never possess 

 side branches and have large, tender leaves. In such 

 stands it frequently happened that many sprouts were 

 broken from the stump, while others had the bark com- 

 pletely girdled or shredded for their entire length. In 

 coppice shoots older than one year as well as in seedling 

 stands the current season's growth was almost invariably 

 killed back while in many cases the shoots were killed 

 back into the last season's growth. However, the bark 



